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CHAPTER XXIII

BACK TO THE VILLAGE

I have believed and repeated times without number
that India is to be found not in its few cities but in its
7,00,000 villages. But we town-dwellers have believed
that India is to be found in its towns and the villages
were created to minister to our needs. We have hardly
ever paused to inquire if those poor folk get sufficient
to eat and clothe themselves with and whether they
have a roof to shelter themselves from sun and rain.
Harijan, 4-4-⁵36

I have found that the town-dweller has generally
exploited the villager, in fact he has lived on the poor
villager's subsistence. Many a British official has written
about the conditions of the people of India. No one
has, to my knowledge, said that the Indian villager
has enough to keep body and soul together. On the
contrary they have admitted that the bulk of the popu-
lation live on the verge of starvation and ten per cent
are semi-starved, and that millions have to rest content
with a pinch of dirty salt and chillies and polished rice
or parched grain.

You may be sure that if any of us were to be asked
to live on that diet, we should not expect to survive it
longer than a month or should be afraid of losing our
mental faculties. And yet our villagers go through that
state from day to day.
Harijan, 4-4-* 3 6

Over 75 per cent of the population are agriculturists*
But there cannot be much spirit of self-government



	CHAPTER XXIII BACK TO THE VILLAGE I have believed and repeated times without number that India is to be found not in its few cities but in its 7,00,000 villages. But we town-dwellers have believed that India is to be found in its towns and the villages were created to minister to our needs. We have hardly ever paused to inquire if those poor folk get sufficient to eat and clothe themselves with and whether they have a roof to shelter themselves from sun and rain. Harijan, 4-4-⁵36 I have found that the town-dweller has generally exploited the villager, in fact he has lived on the poor villager's subsistence. Many a British official has written about the conditions of the people of India. No one has, to my knowledge, said that the Indian villager has enough to keep body and soul together. On the contrary they have admitted that the bulk of the popu- lation live on the verge of starvation and ten per cent are semi-starved, and that millions have to rest content with a pinch of dirty salt and chillies and polished rice or parched grain. You may be sure that if any of us were to be asked to live on that diet, we should not expect to survive it longer than a month or should be afraid of losing our mental faculties. And yet our villagers go through that state from day to day. Harijan, 4-4-* 3 6 Over 75 per cent of the population are agriculturists* But there cannot be much spirit of self-government 91